It’s just another day, just an ordinary Wednesday. The usual anchors on the usual morning news say the usual jokes as Peter gets himself off to work. He ignores the news guys as he usually does. They are usually just so silly, anyway. He kisses his wife Wendy before he leaves for work. Read more….. »
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May 13th, 2011
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She’s alone now in her bedroom for the night, deep in a church basement. It feels like a sanctuary after the way she’s been living lately. The place is still filled with the fog of cigarette smoke from the others who have all gone home now. Read more….. »
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May 6th, 2011
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Recently, the truthfulness of Greg Mortenson’s memoir, “Stones into Schools”, was called into question by 60 minutes. The report questioned some of the events described in the book by author. Read more….. »
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Apr 29th, 2011
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It’s all the rage to get yourself noticed in Manhattan. You make it here, you make it-well, you know how the song goes. Cliches are the enemy of the writer, but everything about a literary gathering in New York is drenched with cliches. It would be more of a surprise if it were in Omaha, unless you were Omaha resenting the hick stereotype of your not so little town. Read more….. »
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Apr 19th, 2011
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It is past midnight now, but she refuses to go to sleep in the bed that mocks her with insomnia. Sleep is something that has been stolen from her, another one of those ordinary things that say her life is not like others. But she is beyond caring that her circumstances have put her past even the fringe of belonging. Read more….. »
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Apr 16th, 2011
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War is a subject of endless debate. Should we go to war, is war evil, when is war just, when is it justifiable, and on and on. But what does war actually feel like? This is what Sebastian Junger explores in his book “War” as he lives amidst an American fighting platoon in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. Read more….. »
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Apr 15th, 2011
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He lay on the hotel bed with her, the room smelling rancidly of the sex they just had. It wasn’t a cheap hotel room, she wasn’t a cheap trick, but the whole thing smelled cheap. He wasn’t even sure what her name was. Randi, the escort service had said. But who knew. He’d lied about his name to her, and once you lied yourself, you could never be sure of the anyone else’s truth. Read more….. »
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Apr 14th, 2011
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What happens after a nuclear accident, especially to its human victims? The recent disaster in Japan is only the latest major incident to raise this question. One might also think of Chernobyl, the 1986 disaster in Soviet Ukraine, and its aftermath. Dr. Robert Peter Gale is an American who witnessed this aftermath. In “Final Warning”, he writes his personal account of living with the human tragedy of a nuclear disaster. Read more….. »
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Apr 1st, 2011
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After all the fighting, all they wanted was peace. Peace was something to fight for, so they’ve been told. Fight until you get the goal you seek. But peace seems too far away to even be real anymore. Yet without the fighting, peace would never come, or so they’ve been told. Read more….. »
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Mar 25th, 2011
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It’s been eight years since the beginning of the American military theater in Iraq. If you don’t know anyone in the military and rely on the media for your truth, it’s easy to forget that there still is a war going on over there. The facts get blurred with the next headline. How and why the war came to be gets buried in the landfill, along with old newspapers that contained its storyline.
George Packer’s “The Assassins’ Gate” brings the reality of the war back to light. Read more….. »
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Mar 17th, 2011
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The dancer sits on the ground, stretching her body across her leg; the flexibility she laces upon her own limb is a natural extension of the moves she has taught herself over the years. Her legs are spread almost completely to the sides. She is supple now. This is something she always does. So much peace emanates from this position, the grace she serves to you makes her seem almost unreal. Read more….. »
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Mar 12th, 2011
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It’s another cold, rainy Saturday at the bookstore. It’s January, and the holiday rush is over. But it’s warm in the store. Patrons line up in the aisles and the cafe like refugees who have survived an onslaught. Perhaps they have. After all, it is after the holidays. Read more….. »
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Feb 15th, 2011
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Seeing that today is Valentine’s Day, I figured it would be a good idea to upload a book review on love and all its heartbreak. Susan Piver’s “The Wisdom of a Broken Heart” seemed to fit perfectly into this theme. Read more….. »
Posted in Book Reviews, Memoir - on
Feb 14th, 2011
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Feel the burn: it sears throughout the body as your legs struggle against the gravity of the hill you climb. Each step you take against this adversary, brings you closer to the goal you set: the summit that beckons closer with every passing moment. Everything crystallizes into this moment. Read more….. »
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Jan 19th, 2011
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In the black of midnight, you don’t expect things to change; too much hides in its dark shadows. Even if you blink yourself awake to try to fight it, you succumb to its slumber; the surreal becomes your reality. Read more….. »
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Jan 15th, 2011
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